Jim Boylan was promoted Thursday to interim head coach of the Chicago Bulls, who fired Scott Skiles on Monday after the team’s disappointing start.

Boylan was in his fourth season as an assistant under Skiles and has 14 years experience in the NBA but none as a head coach at the pro level.

“Jim has paid his dues as an assistant coach and has his own ideas on the way he wants us to play,” Bulls general manager John Paxson said in a statement.

Boylan said his coaching influences include Al McGuire, Jud Heathcote, Mike Fratello, Brian Hill and even the man he is replacing.

“I’ve tried to steal from everybody,” Boylan said.

He made it clear Thursday he’ll be his own man in an attempt to turn around the Bulls, who at 9-17 are one of the league’s most disappointing teams. Their surprising struggles come one season after they took the Detroit Pistons to six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“My approach will be different and I will be myself. I talked to the players about that. I hope any preconceived notions about anyone are put on the back burner.”

The Bulls’ confidence is wavering, their defense has been soft and their shooting — for a team that depends on perimeter scoring — has been poor. Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are all below last season’s levels in scoring and the Bulls are shooting only 41 percent as a team.

“We need to get our guys believing in themselves again. That’s not always an easy thing to do,” Boylan said.

Paxson said the job is Boylan’s for the rest of the season and he doesn’t expect miracles. He just wants the Bulls to tighten up their rotation and define roles a little more.

“It’s a job interview for me and the rest of the league for him,” Paxson said. “He has the right attitude and approach.”

Assistant coach Pete Myers was in charge of the team during Wednesday night’s 94-79 loss at San Antonio that dropped the Bulls’ record to 9-17.

The 52-year-old Boylan also has been an assistant in Cleveland under Mike Fratello (1993-97), Vancouver under Brian Hill (1997-2000), Phoenix under Skiles (2000-01) and Atlanta under Terry Stotts (2003-04).

He also coached in the Continental Basketball Association and in college, including stops at Michigan State as an assistant under Jud Heathcote (1986-89) and as head coach at New Hampshire (1989-92).

As a player, Boylan helped lead Marquette to the 1977 NCAA Championship. He was later drafted by the Buffalo Braves in the fourth round of the 1979 NBA draft.

The battered San Antonio Spurs picked up another injury Wednesday. But playing a struggling Chicago Bulls team that just fired its coach, they also picked up another win.

The Spurs handily beat the Bulls 94-79 in Chicago’s first game since the dismissal of Scott Skiles on Monday.

Tony Parker led San Antonio with 28 points. Michael Finley added 15 and Tim Duncan had 11 rebounds. The Spurs were up by double digits for almost the entire second half and led by as many as 25 points.

Joe Smith had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Ben Gordon added 18 points for the Bulls. Assistant coach Pete Myers, who played in the NBA for eight years, served as interim coach for Chicago.

“I thought effort-wise we played in spurts,” Myers said. “I thought our first unit had some moments that looked pretty good. I thought our bench outside of Chris Duhon didn’t give us very much.”

The Spurs have seen Parker and Duncan sit out several games this season with injuries. And while center Francisco Elson returned Wednesday after missing three games with a sprained right ankle, San Antonio was without its No. 2 scorer, reserve Manu Ginobili, who has a sprained left index finger.

And on Wednesday, the Spurs lost key role player and 3-point shooter Brent Barry when he strained his left calf with 3:20 left in the first quarter.

The team said Barry will have an MRI Thursday. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called the loss of Barry and Ginobili, two key perimeter players, disappointing.

Since the timeline for those two players to return is unknown, the rest of the bench knows it will have to step up.

“Manu and Brent are huge offensive weapons off the bench,” said Matt Bonner, who scored 12 points. “So I wouldn’t say it adds pressure on us but it definitely makes things easier if other guys off the bench can come in and provide a lift on offense.”

The Bulls, though, had issues of their own. While they came out with energy and went up by five points early, they couldn’t get into an offensive groove and lost for the fourth time in five games.

“We tried to do something that we’ve never really done on Tony, just different pick-and-roll coverages,” said Chicago’s Kirk Hinrich. “And he just kind of got off on us. They did a good job of figuring out what we were doing and taking advantage of it.”

Skiles was let go on Christmas Eve as the Bulls, who started with high hopes, continued to struggle this season. They lost 10 of their first 12 games and have a 9-17 mark, one of the worst in the East.

“I’ve been here for four years with the same coach,” said Luol Deng, who scored 12 points for the Bulls. “It’s going to be an adjustment.”

Myers said lead assistant coach Jim Boylan had stayed behind in Chicago. Myers said he wasn’t sure whether he would continue to be interim head coach for upcoming games.

“I don’t know that yet, which is kind of good, because we always talk about taking one game at a time, taking one play at a time,” he said before the game. “That’s basically what I’m doing now.”

Bruce Bowen, Ime Udoka and Bonner all scored 12 points for San Antonio.

Duhon scored 13 points for Chicago and Ben Wallace, who has been dealing with a sore left foot, scored just two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

“Anything Ben Wallace gives us offensively is a bonus,” Myers said. “I don’t think you go into a game looking for him to score. I thought he did a respectable job against Tim Duncan tonight.”

After a good first quarter, the Bulls cooled in the second and shot 8-of-21 from the field, just as Parker heated up.

With the Spurs already up by seven, Parker scored 10 points in a 15-4 run that put them up 47-29 with 4:35 left in the half.

Parker scored 12 points in the quarter and had 17 at the break, when San Antonio was up 51-39. The Spurs went ahead for good on Finley’s jumper with 12 seconds gone in the second quarter that put San Antonio up 23-22.

The Bulls seemed to lose energy as the game went on, allowing San Antonio to extend its lead to 72-59 by the time three quarters were done and pull even farther away in the final 12 minutes.

Parker’s bucket that counted because of a goaltending call gave the Spurs an 86-65 lead with 6:33 to go. Finley’s bucket gave San Antonio its biggest lead, 94-69 with 3:56 to play, and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich subbed most of his starters soon after.

The Motor City Bowl is low in the postseason pecking order.

The Purdue-Central Michigan thriller, however, might be tough to top.

Chris Summers kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the Boilermakers to a 51-48 victory over the Chippewas on Wednesday night.

The 99 points tied the second-highest total in a bowl game that ended in regulation, trailing only the 2003 Insight Bowl, where California beat Virginia Tech 52-49.

“It reminded me of some of our early games at Purdue and also of the wacky WAC,” Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. “It wasn’t my favorite game, but it was a heck of a game for the spectators.”

Curtis Painter threw for a school-record 546 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Boilermakers build three 21-point leads and set up the winning kick.

“It’s a fun game to play if you’re on this end,” he said.

Painter was 35-of-54 and both of his interceptions went off receiver Dorien Bryant’s hands.

“It’s big for us to get a win here after losing our last three games,” said Painter, whose passing total ranked third in a bowl game. “It feels good to get all of the statistics, but the best statistic is in the win column.”

Purdue receivers Greg Orton, Jake Standeford and Dustin Keller had at least 112 yards receiving apiece.

Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour threw for 292 yards and four scores and ran for 114 yards and two TDs, feeding off the energy from the crowd of 60,624 that created more noise than most Detroit Lions games in the same venue.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” said LeFevour, who completed 17 of 34 passes and ran 33 times. “As we started rolling in the second half, the crowd started getting into it more and it just got better and better.”

Early on, Purdue (9-5) didn’t seem inspired perhaps because playing in Detroit isn’t exactly what a Big Ten team has in mind when it dreams of playing in the postseason.

The Mid-American Conference champion Chippewas (8-6) got the Boilermakers’ attention, though, with an interception on the third play of the game and by taking a 3-0 lead.

Purdue then seemed to get fired up and appeared to be rolling toward a rout, leading 27-6 midway through the second quarter, 34-13 at halftime and 41-20 early in the third.

The Chippewas proved they belonged on the same field.

Their comeback started with LeFevour’s scoring pass to Bryan Anderson at 10:19 of the third and the quarterback tied the game with two runs late in the quarter.

Purdue answered with Jaycen Taylor’s TD run midway through the fourth quarter and seemed to seal the win with a sack when Central Michigan had the ball with 2:15 and no timeouts.

But LeFevour wasn’t done.

He escaped a sack on the next play and got out of bounds. Then, he connected three first downs before lobbing a pass to Anderson from 19 yards to make it 48-all with 1:09 left to play.

The sophomore finished the season with 27 passing touchdowns and 19 rushing, falling just short of joining Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow of Florida as the only players to have 20 of each in the same season.

Painter, who broke the Purdue yardage mark shared by Drew Brees and Kyle Orton, was 4-of-5 for 42 yards on the winning drive.

“It was a heck of college football game and it might go down as one of the best bowls,” Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said. “I can’t say enough about our kids. These kids are special.

“Obviously, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but I think you saw something special out there. They fought to the bitter end.”

Jones, a former West Virginia assistant, is reportedly a candidate for the Mountaineers’ job that opened when Rich Rodriguez left to coach Michigan.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Jones said.

The Chicago Bulls were sure this was their season to challenge for the Eastern Conference championship. If they do, it’ll be with a new coach.

The Bulls fired Scott Skiles on Monday, hoping to shake up a team with one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference.

“I felt like something was going to happen,” forward Luol Deng said. “I didn’t know whether it was players or coaches. But you could definitely feel there was something. It just didn’t seem like we were on the same page.”

The underachieving Bulls (9-16) have lost three of their last four and were booed throughout by the home crowd during Saturday night’s 116-98 loss to the Houston Rockets. Their next game is Wednesday at San Antonio.

With three straight playoff appearances after a long postseason drought, the Bulls’ expectations were soaring. Then, they dropped 10 of their first 12 games, and they’ve been unable to capture the intensity that catapulted them into the second round of the playoffs last season.

They’ve lacked a consistent inside scoring threat the past few years, and now, their perimeter players are off target. Chicago is shooting a league-worst 41.3 percent, which partially explains why it hasn’t been able to sustain a winning streak.

“I don’t have a long-term solution as of today,” Bulls general manager John Paxson said. “I’m disappointed in the way we’re playing, the way we’re competing, the energy or lack thereof that we’re playing with on the floor. I know expectations coming into the year were really, really high and we’re not even close to those. I honestly believe we’re a better team than we’ve played this year.”

A message was left seeking comment from Skiles.

The Bulls didn’t immediately announce a replacement for Skiles, who went 165-172 after replacing Bill Cartwright in November 2003. Paxson said he does not expect to hire a coach until after the season, with assistants Pete Myers or Jim Boylan likely taking over on an interim basis. Myers will coach the team against the Spurs.

Chicago is in a familiar spot with this season’s slow start.

The Bulls dropped their first nine in 2004-05 and were 4-15 before going on a surge that led to 47 wins and their first playoff appearance since the Michael Jordan era. They needed a late surge the next season to make it to the playoffs, winning 12 of their final 14 regular-season games to finish with 41 wins.

And with high expectations following the arrival of Ben Wallace, the Bulls promptly dropped nine of their first 12 last season before turning things around. They wound up with 49 wins and swept Miami to capture a playoff series, then lost in six games to Detroit in the second round.

There were no major acquisitions in the offseason. Instead, the most notable moves were the ones the Bulls did not make — contract extensions for Ben Gordon and Deng and a blockbuster trade for Kobe Bryant.

And Deng finally acknowledged the negotiations and trade talk may have weighed down the team.

“I keep saying the whole idea that the contract thing isn’t a big deal with me, but it’s getting to a point where I don’t know,” he said. “It’s not like I came in and said I’m not going to play hard. It’s a life-changing decision. When I made the decision, I decided that I’m just going to play. It became part of it because that’s what people kept talking about. We struggled and they kept coming up.”

He called Skiles “a great coach” but the effort wasn’t there — particularly the past few games. Whether this wakes them up or is just the start of a shake-up remains to be seen.

“It’s a lot on our shoulders right now,” Deng said.

Skiles and the Bulls nearly parted ways in June 2005. Instead, he agreed to a four-year, $16.5 million contract extension after talking with owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

“I wouldn’t say we stopped playing for Scott,” guard Kirk Hinrich said. “Every time I go out there, I’m playing for my teammates, my coaches. We should all be in this together.”

Now, the critical eye might turn toward Paxson, even though he built the Bulls into a playoff team.

He made a big splash before last season when he signed Wallace to a four-year, $60 million deal, but that move has not paid dividends. The same goes for the draft night trade in 2006 in which he sent the rights to LaMarcus Aldridge to Portland for Tyrus Thomas.

Aldridge is averaging 18.5 points and 7.7 rebounds, and Thomas has been in and out of the rotation.

“I never absolve myself from responsibility,” Paxson said. “We all felt confident we had a team that was going to be pretty good this year. Our players now are put in a position where they have to look in the mirror and see what they can do to get this back on track. The message wasn’t being received by them. A lot of the pressure is on them right now.”

Despite getting off to one of the best starts in NBA history, the Boston Celtics realized after their last game that they still have some work to do.

The Celtics look to bounce back from their first home loss of the season when they host the Chicago Bulls on Friday.

Boston (20-3) lost 87-85 to Detroit on Wednesday in a matchup of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Pistons guard Chauncey Billups hit two free throws with a tenth of a second left after drawing a foul on a pump fake.

“I think this game, we wanted to measure and see actually where we were,” said Boston forward Kevin Garnett, who had 26 points and 12 rebounds. “Regardless of their record, this is one of the better teams in the league. If we’re going to be of any substance, we’re going to have to go through Detroit and some other teams.”

With Garnett and Ray Allen joining resident star Paul Pierce in Boston during the offseason, the Celtics, who finished last in the East in 2006-07, became instant contenders. Their 20-2 start matched the second best in NBA history, tying the 1963-64 Celtics, who went on to win the NBA title.

Boston’s 12-0 start at home was second in franchise history to the 1957-58 team, which won its first 17 on its own court.

Wednesday’s loss, however, showed that the Celtics still have room for improvement.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do obviously,” said Pierce, who shot 5-for-16 from the floor Wednesday and finished with 11 points - well below his team-high 20.5 average. “It’s a long season; we’d rather take our bumps and bruises now than come late in the season.”

The Celtics did get back Allen, who had missed the previous two games with a sore right ankle. He played nearly 39 minutes and had 24 points, including a tying 3-pointer with 18.9 seconds to play.

The Celtics won 92-81 on Dec. 8 in Chicago in the teams’ first meeting this season, ending an eight-game losing streak to the Bulls (9-14). Chicago, however, has won four straight in Boston.

The Bulls have won three of their last five, including Wednesday’s 95-84 victory at Washington. Ben Gordon scored 22 points and Luol Deng had 20 for Chicago, which has gone 3-1 in its last four road games to improve to 4-8 away from the United Center.

The Bulls were without center Ben Wallace, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left foot. Wallace, who said before the game that the foot had been bothering him for a while, had an MRI on Wednesday that showed he doesn’t have a stress fracture.

Still, coach Scott Skiles expected Wallace to miss practice Thursday, and was not sure how long he would be out.

“Just got to play it by ear,” Wallace said.

Rookie center Aaron Gray helped pick up the slack Wednesday, coming off the bench to post career highs in points (10), rebounds (10), assists (five) and minutes (29).

Aaron Gray stole the show.

Ben Gordon scored 22 points and Luol Deng had 20 in the Chicago Bulls‘ 95-84 win over the Wizards on Wednesday night, but the rookie center out of Pittsburgh had career highs in points (10), minutes (29), rebounds (10) and assists (five).

“Right now teams are playing off of him and he’s making them pay,” Chicago coach Scott Skiles said. “He knows how to play.”

Gray’s personality has already made an impression on his teammates — Kirk Hinrich called him a “big-time goofball.” On Wednesday, his play made an impression as well.

His biggest problem at the end was fatigue. He beat his previous high in playing time by nine minutes.

You get a little tired, but when the game’s on the line like that, the last thing you want to do is let your teammates down,” Gray said. “That’s going to give you all the energy you need.”

Gray’s breakout game came on a day the Bulls were looking for help in the paint. Chicago was playing without center Ben Wallace, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left foot. Before the game, Wallace said the foot had been bothering him for a while.

“I’ve got bone spurs on the top of my foot,” Wallace said. “It bothered me last night more than any other time.”

Washington was slowed by health issues as well. The team is already missing point guards Gilbert Arenas and Antonio Daniels due to injury, and coach Eddie Jordan said Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison battled illness this week.

It didn’t seem to affect either of them against the Bulls. Butler had his second triple-double of the season and career, with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. The last time any Wizard had multiple triple-doubles in a season was 2003-04, when Gilbert Arenas had three. Jamison scored 24 points for the Wizards.

“Caron and Antawn are just on the border of being healthy,” Jordan said. “They were both really down the last two days — really down — with health issues. They gave us this, so let’s see how they react.”

Joe Smith started at center for Chicago in place of Wallace, but it was Gray’s play off the bench that seemed to give the Bulls a spark after a sluggish start.

Washington scored the first eight points of the game, and opened up a 27-14 lead with about a minute and a half left in the first quarter. Gray, who had entered the game about three minutes earlier, helped turn the Bulls’ fortune at that point. He had two assists and a jump shot on Chicago’s next three possessions.

Starting with those possessions, Chicago outscored the Wizards 31-13 to close out the first half.

“Coming in as a second-string guy, you’ve got to bring some energy to the team. I’m just trying to find the best way to do that,” Gray said. “I kind of just take what they give me.”

Gray gave the Bulls a spark early, and it was Gordon and Deng who sealed the game. The two each contributed five points to a 12-0 run in the final four minutes to secure the win.

“We got a couple of long rebounds and we were able to convert in transition,” Gordon said. “At that point, we wanted to continue to push the ball, because that’s what was working for us.”

Chicago’s run came after Butler’s jump shot gave Washington its first lead of the second half, 80-79, with about 4 minutes to play. The loss ended Washington’s four-game win streak. The Wizards turned the ball over 18 times in the game.

“We fell in love with the jump shot in the second quarter and they were capitalizing on our misses, getting out in transition,” Butler said. “We had a lot of turnovers.”

The Lakers may be Kobe Bryant’s team, but once again, they showed they’re not a one-man operation.

Sasha Vujacic scored 19 points, Lamar Odom added 17 points and 16 rebounds, and Los Angeles beat the Chicago Bulls 103-91 Tuesday night.

Slowed by a groin injury, Bryant scored 18 points but was a nonfactor for long stretches against the team he targeted as a possible destination during the offseason.

“Everybody’s contributing and playing well,” Bryant said. “It makes the game fun.”

Odom started an 11-point run with a layup and capped it with a dunk as the Lakers turned an 86-83 lead into a 14-point advantage with 3:24 left in the game. In between, they took advantage of three turnovers, and got an alley-oop dunk by Andrew Bynum and a layup and 3-pointer by Jordan Farmar.

“Balance, that’s been the case the whole season,” Odom said.

Bryant seemed fine when he converted an alley-oop in the game’s opening minute, but he missed his next seven shots and was 7-for-19 overall. His skid ended with a jumper and a layup with just over 2 minutes remaining in the first half.

Bryant then scored the Lakers’ first six points of the third quarter, starting with a thunderous reverse dunk in transition about 40 seconds into the period, but he needed help and got it.

Vujacic played a big role for the second straight game and rewarded the Lakers with another big fourth quarter. This time he scored nine in the final period, after delivering 14 in Sunday’s win over the Clippers.

“(Coach Phil Jackson) showed me he has confidence in me,” Vujacic said. “That was the key thing for me. I’m having fun, playing basketball the way I used to play. I’m enjoying it.”

Luke Walton and Bynum finished with 12 points apiece, and the Lakers had six players score in double figures. Bynum also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Luol Deng led Chicago with 26 points after missing all six shots in the first quarter, and Kirk Hinrich finished with 17 points and eight assists. Andres Nocioni scored 14 points, but rolled his right ankle late in the game. He said it hurts “just a little bit. It’s fine.”

Ben Gordon was a nonfactor, though, with eight points on 3-for-9 shooting.

“It’s just frustrating,” he said. “You can use any word you want, but it’s just frustrating.”

Bryant heard a few more cheers than boos during pregame introductions and one kid sitting about 10 rows off the court wore a Bulls jersey with masking tape and the number 24 scrawled on it.

There were oohs and aahs when Walton found a cutting Bryant for an all-oop over Hinrich, but there was nothing like the “Kobe! Kobe!” chorus that roared through the United Center during several home games last month. Those chants were in response to trade talks that fell through and the Bulls’ slow start.

The Kobe rumors picked up so much steam that Chicago general manager John Paxson did his best to squash them on the eve of the home opener, saying the teams were never on the verge of a deal.

A day later, fans chanted “Kobe! Kobe!” in the closing seconds as the Bulls fell to Philadelphia. The chorus continued during a 2-10 start that included a 106-78 loss at Los Angeles — Chicago’s most lopsided loss ever to the Lakers.

Those chants haven’t been heard in weeks, with the Bulls winning six of nine entering Tuesday’s game.

The early cheers, oohs and aahs quickly turned to boos for Bryant after that alley oop.

That play aside, the groin he injured late in Friday’s loss at Golden State limited him, and the two-time defending scoring champion spent most of the first half on the perimeter.

“If I’m not careful, it hurts all the time,” Bryant said.

Trampled by Adrian Peterson the last time they met, Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears figured out how to stop Minnesota’s star rookie for the better part of three quarters.

At least until it really counted.

Peterson’s 8-yard touchdown run, his second of the night started by a shoulder-shake to fake Urlacher at the line of scrimmage, sent the Vikings past the Bears 20-13 on Monday for their fifth straight victory.

“Couldn’t finish,” said Urlacher, who kept his sparse postgame comments to grouchy sentence fragments.

The Vikings (8-6) stayed in control of the NFC’s last wild-card spot, despite four turnovers and a missed extra point. Tarvaris Jackson’s career-high 249 yards passing were overshadowed by three interceptions, mistakes that led to a 13-3 Bears advantage until Peterson’s first score early in the third.

“It just shows people and shows ourself that we can win all kinds of ways,” said Jackson, who completed 18 of his 29 throws.

Peterson finished with 78 yards on 20 carries, just enough to keep Minnesota one game in front of New Orleans and Washington in the conference race. Defending NFC champion Chicago (5-9) was officially eliminated from contention.

“We know you have to play a complete game, and in the end those same guys who made plays early have to step up there in the fourth quarter,” said Bears coach Lovie Smith, who winced while his team was whistled for 11 penalties totaling 95 yards.

Coming off the self-declared worst game of his career, just 3 yards on 14 carries against the San Francisco 49ers, Peterson had trouble finding room to run again for most of the night and took the blame from coaches for a fumble on a botched first-half handoff.

But he came through in the clutch, plunging through the line for a yard out to pull Minnesota within 13-12 before a low snap by Cullen Loeffler preceded a missed point-after attempt by Ryan Longwell.

Then in the fourth quarter, with Jackson sidelined temporarily by a cramp in his calf muscle, Peterson added another clip to his rookie highlight video.

On third-and-goal, after brushing backup Brooks Bollinger during a bad handoff, Peterson stutter-stepped to freeze Urlacher before darting left and scurrying over the goal line. Urlacher just shook his head, while Peterson hammed it up with teammates in the end zone.

It was a communication error, but I was able to make a big play out of it,” Peterson said.

Bollinger’s dive forward on a draw play gave the Vikings the 2-point conversion and a 20-13 lead with 10:56 left, plenty of time for Chicago to come back.

Kyle Orton, though, didn’t have it in him. In his first start in two years, the Bears quarterback avoided turnovers until the very end. His long pass to the end zone just after the 2-minute warning was intercepted by Darren Sharper.

Too many of Orton’s throws were way off target, though. He completed 22 of 36 passes for 184 yards.

“The more you play the more comfortable you get, but I didn’t make enough plays to win,” Orton said. “I felt comfortable in the game. We just didn’t make enough plays. Put that on me.”

The throw that hurt Orton the most came near the end of the third quarter, on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 35. On a curious call, Orton lofted a swing pass to fullback Jason McKie that sailed over his head. After the exchange, Peterson got going and led the drive for the winning score.

The Vikings have come a long way since Nov. 11, when they were whipped on the road by the rival Packers by a humbling score of 34-0.

So what’s different about this team?

“It’s really not any of the bodies,” coach Brad Childress said. “I think it’s mind-set, more than anything.”

The Vikings wore purple from head to foot after pulling their dark pants from the back of the closet. This game had the look of one of those Black-and-Blue Division clashes with the Bears from 20 years prior.

It was a communication error, but I was able to make a big play out of it,” Peterson said.

Bollinger’s dive forward on a draw play gave the Vikings the 2-point conversion and a 20-13 lead with 10:56 left, plenty of time for Chicago to come back.

Kyle Orton, though, didn’t have it in him. In his first start in two years, the Bears quarterback avoided turnovers until the very end. His long pass to the end zone just after the 2-minute warning was intercepted by Darren Sharper.

Too many of Orton’s throws were way off target, though. He completed 22 of 36 passes for 184 yards.

“The more you play the more comfortable you get, but I didn’t make enough plays to win,” Orton said. “I felt comfortable in the game. We just didn’t make enough plays. Put that on me.”

The throw that hurt Orton the most came near the end of the third quarter, on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 35. On a curious call, Orton lofted a swing pass to fullback Jason McKie that sailed over his head. After the exchange, Peterson got going and led the drive for the winning score.

The Vikings have come a long way since Nov. 11, when they were whipped on the road by the rival Packers by a humbling score of 34-0.

So what’s different about this team?

“It’s really not any of the bodies,” coach Brad Childress said. “I think it’s mind-set, more than anything.”

The Vikings wore purple from head to foot after pulling their dark pants from the back of the closet. This game had the look of one of those Black-and-Blue Division clashes with the Bears from 20 years prior.

Urlacher played like the six-time Pro Bowl pick that he is, harassing Jackson often, recording two sacks, and twice taking the ball from Minnesota.

He was angry and embarrassed two months ago when Peterson shredded the Bears defense for 224 yards and three touchdowns to send the Vikings to a 34-31 victory at Soldier Field. Never in the history of the franchise had an opposing player gained so much on the ground.

Well, they didn’t forget that game, and the return of starting cornerback Nathan Vasher — after nearly two months due to nagging groin injury — gave the Bears’ beat-up defense another boost.

Though they moved the ball well at times in the first half, six points were all the Vikings managed, and they were lucky to get the last three.

Jackson’s first throw was on target to Robert Ferguson, but the ball bounced off his chest and into Urlacher’s hands and he returned it to the Minnesota 14. Two false-start penalties on the Bears forced them to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

Minnesota drove to the Chicago 22 on its next possession, but Peterson didn’t handle Jackson’s handoff cleanly, and Urlacher grabbed the errant ball for another turnover.

Chester Taylor dropped a third-down pass in the second quarter that would have put Minnesota in field-goal range, and with less than 1 minute left before halftime Jackson made his worst throw in more than a month by forcing a ball over Bobby Wade’s head that Vasher picked off and took 34 yards to the 12.

McKie’s short touchdown run came next, and the Bears had a 10-point lead. The Vikings used an 18-yard scramble by Jackson and a 15-yard late-hit penalty on Charles Tillman to sneak into range for Longwell to kick a 48-yard field goal at the gun.

For the second time in eight months, Michigan lured a coach out of West Virginia.

Rich Rodriguez was to be introduced Monday morning at a news conference in the same place, sandwiched between the Big House and Crisler Arena, that the Wolverines used to announce the hiring of basketball coach John Beilein.

“People here are ready to come to Ann Arbor and shoot,” joked Don Nehlen, a former West Virginia coach and Michigan assistant.

Rodriguez is set to lead college football’s winningest program, succeeding retiring coach Lloyd Carr.

The Wolverines seemingly went 0-for-2 in their first coaching search since hiring Bo Schembechler away from Miami of Ohio, appearing to get turned down by LSU’s Les Miles and Rutgers’ Greg Schiano.

Rodriguez, though, seems to be much more than a consolation prize.

He built West Virginia into a Big East power, winning the conference championship this year for the fourth time in five seasons and going 60-26 overall.

“I am thrilled to have Rich Rodriguez as Michigan’s new coach,” athletic director Bill Martin wrote in an e-mail Sunday to The Associated Press. “Rich brings an exciting brand of football to Michigan Stadium. We welcome the entire Rodriguez family to Ann Arbor.”

The 44-year-old Rodriguez said goodbye to the Mountaineers during an emotional meeting Sunday in Morgantown, W. Va.

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes,” West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt said. “He did all he could for us. As far as I know he did a lot of great things for this university.”

Nehlen expected Rodriguez to focus on his new job, leaving the coaching to someone else when West Virginia plays Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

“He’ll be in Ann Arbor to stay,” Nehlen told The AP. “It would be too hard for him to coach West Virginia in the bowl game.

“He’s got a lot of work right away at Michigan, where he has to assemble a staff and catch up on recruiting.”

Carr announced Nov. 19 that his 13th and final season would end in the bowl game, which wound up being a Jan. 1 matchup with Florida in the Capital One Bowl.

As Nehlen predicted, some in West Virginia are not happy with the means in which Michigan got Rodriguez or the end result.

Martin and university president Mary Sue Coleman reportedly talked with Rodriguez, his wife and agent Friday in Toledo, Ohio. West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong met with Rodriguez on Saturday, saying they talked about general issues within the program.

Pastilong had said he was unaware Rodriguez went to Toledo and declined to disclose whether he had given Michigan permission to talk to the coach.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin blamed the involvement of what he termed “high-priced agents” in college sports.

“I have known Rich for most of his life, from a boy whose only wish was to play football at WVU to a young man whose only wish was to coach at WVU,” Manchin said in a statement. “Something is wrong with the profession of college coaching today when a leader’s word is no longer his bond.”

Alabama’s interest in Rodriguez last year wore on the Mountaineers for several days before he agreed to a one-year contract extension through 2013. The deal included a $4 million buyout clause if he leaves before next September.

Like Beilein, Rodriguez will make enough money at Michigan to cut West Virginia a big check.

Martin said he was prepared to pay as much as $3 million for a coach, roughly doubling what Lloyd Carr made annually.

Michigan is paying Beilein $1.3 million a season, plus bonuses, as part of a six-year contract.

When Michigan lured Beilein away from West Virginia last April, his contract had a $2.5 million buyout clause. Under an agreement with West Virginia, Beilein agreed to pay $1.5 million to the WVU Foundation

Page after page, Roger Clemens‘ name was all over the Mitchell Report.

Count them, 82 times.

Barry Bonds showed up more often. So did Jose Canseco. Andy Pettitte, Eric Gagne and Miguel Tejada also became part of baseball’s most infamous lineup since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

But they didn’t get the worst of it Thursday. That infamy belonged to Clemens, the greatest pitcher of his era.

The Steroids Era.

“Those who have illegally used these substances range from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame,” former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell wrote in his much-anticipated report on performance-enhancing drugs.

“They include both pitchers and position players, and their backgrounds are as diverse as those of all major league players.”

Seven MVPs, two Cy Young Award winners and 31 All-Stars — one for every position. In all, the 409-page report identified 85 names to differing degrees, putting question marks if not asterisks in the record book and threatening the integrity of the game itself.

“If there are problems, I wanted them revealed,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “His report is a call to action, and I will act.”

Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., Paul Byrd, Jose Guillen, Brian Roberts, Paul Lo Duca and Rick Ankiel were among other current players cited. Some were linked to Human Growth Hormone, others to steroids. Mitchell did not delve into stimulants in his 20-month investigation.

While he vehemently denied it through his lawyer, Clemens was the symbol.

Considered a lock for the Hall of Fame earlier this week, Clemens’ path to Cooperstown was thrown in doubt after he was singled out on nearly nine pages.

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner, eighth on the career list with 354 victories, an MVP and All-Star himself, Clemens suddenly had more to worry about than simply whether to play next season.

“It is very unfair to include Roger’s name in this report,” said Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin. “He is left with no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. He has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong.”

Much of the information about Clemens came from former New York Yankees major league strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee.

According to the report, McNamee also told investigators that “during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear that he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin.”

The report was unlikely to trigger a wave of discipline. While a few players, such as Bonds, are subjects of ongoing legal proceedings, many of the instances cited by Mitchell were before drug testing began in 2003.

Mitchell said punishment was inappropriate in all but the most egregious cases, and Selig said decisions on any action would come “swiftly” on a case-by-case basis.

Mitchell said the problems didn’t develop overnight and there was plenty of blame to go around.

“Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades — commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and players — shares to some extent the responsibility for the Steroids Era,” Mitchell said. “There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on.”

Mitchell recommended that the drug-testing program be made independent, that a list of the substances players test positive for be issued periodically and that the timing of testing be more unpredictable.

“The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game,” the report said. “Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records.”

Canseco, whose book “Juiced” was cited throughout, was mentioned the most often — 105 times. Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, was next at 103.

A total of 20 Yankees, past and present, were identified. Players were linked to doping in various ways — some were identified as users, some as buyers and some by media reports and other investigations.

Former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski also provided information as part of his plea agreement in a federal steroids case.

Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for steroids, was among the former players named. So were Kevin Brown, Benito Santiago, Lenny Dykstra, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn, Wally Joyner and Todd Hundley.

Mike Stanton, Scott Schoeneweis, Ron Villone and Jerry Hairston Jr. were among the other current players identified.

“Other investigations will no doubt turn up more names and fill in more details, but that is unlikely to significantly alter the description of baseball’s `steroids era’ as set forth in this report.”

Mitchell is a director of the Boston Red Sox, and some questioned whether that created a conflict, especially because none of their prime players were in the report.

“Judge me by my work,” Mitchell said. “You will not find any evidence of bias, special treatment, for the Red Sox or anyone else. That had no effect on this investigation or this report, none whatsoever.”

Giambi, under threat of discipline from Selig, and Frank Thomas were the only current players known to have cooperated with the Mitchell investigation.

“The players’ union was largely uncooperative for reasons that I thought were largely understandable,” Mitchell said.

Union head Donald Fehr made “no apologies” for the way they represented players.

“Many players are named. Their reputations have been adversely affected, probably forever,” he said. “Even if it turns out down the road that they should not have been.”

Certainly a lot of people read the names. The report was downloaded 1.8 million times off MLB.com in the first three hours after it was posted.

About two hours after the report was released, two congressmen at the forefront of Capitol Hill’s involvement in the steroids issue asked Mitchell, Selig and Fehr to testify at a House committee hearing Tuesday.

California Democrat Henry Waxman and Virginia Republican Tom Davis — the leaders of the panel that held the March 17, 2005, hearing at which Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Palmeiro testified — want to know “whether the Mitchell Report’s recommendations will be adopted and whether additional measures are needed,” they said.

Also, a Congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing on Jan. 23 relating to steroid use in professional sports.